Canterbury and Westland. t 421 



Avifauna, Cnemiornis is also represented by a few bones. We obtained 

 also, bones of Ralluspectoralis, Larus dominicanus, Porphyrio melanotus, 

 Diomedea melanophris, Limosa icropygialis^nd of several ducks. Apteryx 

 bones were missing ; but tliis may be easily explained by the distance 

 of timber covered country from the encampment. A remarkable 

 feature, is the total absence of the bones of the Weka (Ocydromus 

 australis), a bird at present found all over the Island in great numbers. 

 This fact is still more striking after the same observation has been 

 made, amongst the kitchen middens in the Moa-bone Cave, and out- 

 side amongst the sandhills. Could this bird have been confined during 

 the Dinornis era to the forest regions, kept there by the attacks made 

 upon it by the large birds, or was it not yet an inhabitant of this por- 

 tion of New Zealand ? ! The different species of seals till now 

 frequenting the coasts of New Zealand, are also represented by a 

 number of bones, so as to prove that they also were used for food. 

 Another interesting fact here, as well as in the Moa-bone Point Cave, 

 is the frequent occurrence of tympanic bones of whales, all belonging 

 to the smaller species living near the New Zealand coasts. These bones 

 are mostlyin a fragmentary state, having been broken in such a way, that 

 the interior cavity or lower surface remains intact. It is difficult to 

 understand for what purpose these bones might have been brought up 

 to the encampment. The dog is always represented in these refuse heaps, 

 being in some localities so abundant, that quite a collection of skulls, 

 lower jaws and limb bones, belonging to numerous specimens, mostly 

 of the same size, could be made. This dog is of a size between the 

 dingo and fox, powerfully built, the skull is rather short to its breadth, 

 the canine teeth are generally flatter and sharper, than in the domestic 

 dog, and have in many instances a well defined front and back edge. 

 The premolars in comparison with the molars are much smaller than 

 either fox, dingo, or any of the domestic dogs of which skulls are in 

 the Canterbury Museum. The measurements of the skulls, both from 

 the Kakaia, and Moa-bone Point Cave, agree very well with those of 

 the ancient Maori dog given by Dr. Hector in Vol. IX. of the 

 " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," page 2-IS. 



From the manner the dog bones arebroken and mixed with Moa -bones, 

 it is evident that the dog was also considered a favourite food by the 

 Moa-hunters, but it is difficult to believe that it was domesticated by 

 them. Although I have examined thousands of bones collected in these 

 refuse heaps, many of them very minute and delicate, I never was able 

 to find the least trace that they had been gnawed. The same observa- 



